


Broken Crown

by lialibea



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: AU, Captain Swan - Freeform, Captain Swan AU - Freeform, Curse AU, F/M, The Enchanted Forest, curse, the enchanted forest curse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-21
Updated: 2014-05-30
Packaged: 2018-01-26 00:07:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 18,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1667483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lialibea/pseuds/lialibea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>CS AU. When Captain Hook, after a failed try at revenge, spots Emma , the long lost princess, the saviour he starts planning his revenge on Rumplestiltskin using Emma. But Emma plans to use Hook. Where will this journey end? The title and the story is a little based around the lyrics for the song "Broken Crown" by Mumford and Sons.<br/>Also posted on ff.net under the same name.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hold My Tongue

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this fanfic two or three months ago and posted it on ff.net but I thought why not post it here too now when I got AO3? So I'll post this fic here, probably one chapter every day until it's finished (10 chapters).  
> This fanfic is based loosely on the song "Broken Crown" by Mumford and Sons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there fellow oncers! This is my first ever fanfic so bear with me! I'm also Swedish and sixteen years old so if I get some small grammatically things wrong that's why. Still it's no excuse, I'm aware of that.
> 
> NOTE: "Once Upon A Time" and the characters are not mine and the song lyrics that I've used to "base" my story upon are not mine either, they are written by the lovely Mumford and Sons. Go listen to the wonderful song, Broken Crown.

_Touch my mouth and hold my tongue_

_I'll never be your chosen one_

* * *

_Killian looked down the road and swallowed hard. Was he really going to do this? His innocent seven year old brain fought against right and wrong. What was right and wrong anyway? For a boy who grew up in a small village, living with his drunk dad and older brother, the sense for right and wrong were a bit twisted, but this he knew was very wrong. His older brother had always protected him from his fathers rage but today Liam hadn't been there._

_Killian didn't want to do it and tears came to his eyes when his father whispered into his ear that this was what he had to do to stay alive. The little boy of course believed his father, but he still didn't want to._

_"Killian," said the father softly with a voice sweet as sugar but full of venom, "you only have to walk into the store and take the loaf of bread, nothing serious,"_

_Killian looked upon his father with fear in his eyes, feeling worse than before._

_"Why must I do it?" he asked with the tears still running over his cheeks._

_"Because, boy, I say so. Now stop being a little coward and do this for me," said Killian's father and before the boy knew it he had been slapped across his face with his father's big hand._

* * *

The door slammed behind Hook as he left the small cottage. He was furious and sadly, he had been betrayed, again. Why were people always using his anger and revenge to get what  _they_  wanted? But this time he only had himself to blame and that he did. Why would Cora, of all people, actually help him? It had been too good to be true.

He hurried through the mass of people that walked around the small harbour village where Cora had told him to meet her. His rage was boiling inside of him; most people stayed out of his way as he angrily made his way through the village to, of course, the pub.

You would've thought that after more than 300 years of seeking his revenge he would be able to take these let downs soundly but there was this rage and pain inside of him that always sipped through after even the smallest let down. He had never learned the art of letting things go and his memories haunted him.

At last he reached the pub door to "Boast On- pub." He opened it; the smell of alcohol, fear and restless nights reached him, his shoulders came down a bit. He walked over to the bar and leaned against the counter. He could feel the whole bar's eyes on him as he ordered his beloved rum without really looking. Or actually, the eyes weren't on him but on his hook. He turned around and saw nearly whole the bar looking, steering at him as he held up his hook.

"Is there a problem?" He asked the crowd softly, voice dripping with irony, as he reached his eyebrows. The people of "Boast On- pub" slowly turned around again and so did Hook. When he was turned against the counter again a sweet face met his.

He had seen this woman before, but where? His brain started to work on its highest pace as he fought with his memories. It was hard sometimes, to keep every memory of his over 300-year long lifetime in check. Where had he seen this face before? It was important,  _she_  was important. The girl, or the woman, who stood behind the counter with his glass of rum, now started to give him a weird look.

"Are you sure you're not the problem?" she said, referring to what he had said earlier when he still didn't make any move to take the rum. His right eyebrow lifted without him thinking about it when he returned to reality.

"Aye, sure you want to say those nasty words to a pirate, lass?" He could see that the blonde woman fought a smile and for some reason he liked it. His rage was nearly gone by now; replaced by this face he recognised somewhere deep inside of him. She was a beautiful woman, he could see that and if it wasn't that he recognised her face he would already had began flirting with her as that was what he normally did.

The woman handed him his drink and he took a sip of it. Ah, the taste of seas and salty oceans went down his throat. He took a closer look of the woman in front of him as she took another one's order.

"Hey, lass, do I know you?" he called out as she poured beer into a cup for a bearded man. She threw a look over her shoulder catching his eye.

"No, you don't." She continued with helping the other costumers while Hook stood there thinking. He decided to call out again: "Atl east tell me your name, love."

She looked over at him again, this time stopping. Her eyes looked tired and old suddenly. "Why would I tell you my name, pirate?"

"Well, maybe I'll tell you my name if you're so kind to let me know yours," he replied, raising his eyebrows and working the whole now-just-be-a-good-little-girl-look.

She sighed, "My name is Emma, if it's so important to you."

Emma. It couldn't be?  _Emma_. Well, she looked like that Snow White princess and damn it if this Emma didn't look like that Snow White's husband too. Hook was starting to get excited now. Maybe he did have some luck left after all.

He swept his rum as a plan slowly began to form in his head. This could be the way of him finally getting to Rumplestiltskin. Only thinking the name of the Dark One sent a shiver of disgust and anger down the pirate's spine.

The pretty Emma may have to go, but she didn't even cross Hook's mind that was now only was filled with thoughts of revenge. He turned to Emma again, turning on his most charming smile.

"So Emma… I can see your work here is quite… boring. Why not come and work out at sea for a change?" She looked at him with disbelief and something else that Hook couldn't set words on.

"Why would I ever follow a pirate like you to the sea?"

"I can see through you and I can see, Emma.. that you want to sail the world, see the world with your own eyes, not just sit here all day and night, watching old and drunk sailsmen drink their thoughts away. You want more, am I wrong?"

* * *

Emma Swan had been waiting for this moment. She knew better than to trust this pirate. She could feel that something was off, but she wanted to see the world, to get out of the "Boast On- pub" and see the world. Emma was very tired of the same old routines and it all reminded her too much of her past. She wished to settle down somewhere, but here would never be good enough; she had too many memories.

Emma smiled for the gorgeous, dark haired pirate, a smile both real and fake. "That would be… nice." Her smile was big and it felt very fake but the pirate didn't seem to notice so she continued to keep the smile on her face.

The pirate turned around, causing his long leather coat to fly around him like the tail of a bird.

"Come to the docks early tomorrow morning, love. You'll see which ship is mine once you're there." The pirate said, throwing the words over his shoulder as he walked to the door.

His cocky tone was annoying but Emma tried to ignore it, trying to be the sweet (and a little bit stupid) girl as the pirate seemed to think she was.

"A name, pirate, you promised me a name. Who are you?"

As he stood in the door he turned his head to her one last time.

"Killian Jones, but most people have taken to call me by my more colourful moniker…" the pirate made a dramatic pause as he held up this left arm, "Hook." He winked at Emma as he left the pub, walking into the chilly evening.

Emma looked down at her feet and smiled. Now the adventure started.

* * *

Hook walked out of the pub with a smile on his lips. His thoughts were already planning the best way to use this Emma to get his revenge. Emma, the lost princess, the saviour of the kingdom in the EnchantedForest, was going on his ship next thing in the morning.

Maybe this day wasn't so bad after all; maybe this was the start of his revenge. Maybe, this was the start of the end of Rumplestiltskin.

As the pirate walked away in the evening to god knows where, he started humming quietly to a song he heard long ago.

" _Oh, better far to live and die, under the brave black flag I fly, than play a sanctimonious part, with a pirate head and a pirate heart. Away to the cheating world go you, where pirates all are well-to-do; but I'll be true to the song I sing, and live and die a Pirate King."_


	2. Tempt Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A while ago I wrote this so I'm sure about how it looks but enjoy it! ;)

_I'll be home, safe and tucked away  
You can't tempt me if I don't see the day_

* * *

_It had been a time now, a time since she got out of jail. Emma was completely, utterly broken to pieces. The numbness had taken over and most days she just wandered around what she called her home, a small cave in the woods next to the village where she was "brought up", well at least where she had been running around as a kid._

_To live in a cave felt so… Odd, but it was the closest thing to a home Emma had ever had. When she had Neal he had been a kind of home but Neal had... Let her down. Thinking his name sent pain down her body and Emma sat down again on the ground of the cave. It all felt so black. She didn't know if Neal still was out there but she hid away here, where he couldn't find her. She didn't really know what would be worse, him searching for her or if he didn't._

_She had felt like killing herself, but she had to admit that couldn't. She wanted to se the world, she really did. She didn't want to hide away forever._

* * *

It was still early in the morning when Emma Swan arrived to the port, ready for her adventure. She was determined where she wanted to go, The Enchanted Forest. She hadn't heard that very much about that place but her sudden wanderlust screamed at her to go there. The fact that she'd heard nothing about it before actually made it more attractive. Running away was her best option.

The morning was foggy and a bit cold but there were sailors a little all around working on their boats. Emma stopped and looked around, trying to find the boat, or ship, she was going on. There was one ship that stood out, a big one and even if Emma knew nothing about ships, she could tell that this one was a pretty one. Her eyes started to wander around the big ship and found some planks that were sticking out on the back. She put them to her mind as they could be useful in the future.

"Emma! So you came at last to join us!"

Emma heard the voice she recognised as Hook's, his Irish accent standing out, calling on her from… Where was he?

Of course he was on one of the tall… whatever they were called. Hearing his voice made it all a lot more real and suddenly she felt her heart rush a bit. Was she really going to do this? Of course, she had made her way through life before, playing people to get where and what she wanted because of her always thinking the worst of people, never expecting anyone to do anything for her, but this was special. Never before had she tried to get a pirate to do as she wanted and judging from what she knew about this one he seemed to be pretty clever but, as usually, she was probably smarter. Also, he was very full of himself.

Emma took her small bag over her shoulder and continued to walk to the ship, still with her heart pounding.

Hook had came down from his place and he walked impatiently to her with an annoyed look on his face but when he saw her he smiled a big, confident smile. This man, he knew he looked good and was charming and that annoyed the crap out of Emma, but playing her simple role she smiled back, trying not to look like what she felt.

"Welcome to the Jolly Roger," he said and swept proudly his hook over the ship. Hook held out his… hook, offering to take care of her bag. Ignoring the hook Emma walked up on the big ship. "Roger?" she said, "Isn't it a her?" Of course she couldn't keep her tongue in check, damn you Emma.

Hook looked a bit amused by her question but answered shortly

"The Jolly Roger is just a name." He winked at her and turned around.

"All men aboard! We're heading out!" A crew of six, maybe seven sailors (or maybe she should call them pirates) started running and screaming things Emma didn't understand to each other. It was quite the sight, seeing them work as one, when Hook headed to the ship's wheel and waving to Emma to follow him.

A little awkwardly she followed him to the big wheel and ended up just standing there as he shouted out instructions and spun the wheel.

"So where are we going?" she asked, hoping for the best when the instructions didn't come quite as often.

"The Enchanted Forest." He answered and something lit up in his eyes as he said the name. He shot her a look before returning to his work and Emma couldn't help but catch something in those blue eyes of his.

So they were going to the enchanted forest… Emma felt revealed, she could be tough but if the pirate had told her another name she wouldn't have had much to set up against him, that she was sure of.

* * *

When they had reached the big open sea Hook yelled out some new instructions and the men ran around for a while until everything was quiet aboard the ship again. Emma, who still stood next to the wheel, was looking out over the ocean.

"Lass, come here and I'll show you the way to where you're bed is. Unless you want to sleep in mine instead," Hook smirked as Emma walked past him, ignoring what he just said.

Hook led the way down to the little hut, where the men slept.

"Nothing is like home, aye?" He asked her teasingly when he saw the look on her face.

"There is no place for me," she said and looked at him with an annoyed look.

"Love, you're going to work for me and this is where the crew sleeps. But, if you're a good girl I may let you sleep with me."

Emma looked at Hook with a  _'you-really-want-to-do-this'_ -look on her face.

"Rather not," she said as she dropped her bag on the floor.

"Oh, you're just in denial, darling."

Hook turned around, dramatically as usually and walked out of the hut onto the ship again.  _He was such a dramaqueen._

* * *

The days passed on and Emma tried to keep on a good face while scrubbing the floors and jumping around the mast of the ship doing stuff she never imagined she'd be able to do. Hook was really a pain in the ass but he had left her alone pretty much since her arrival. Her plans had started to grow in her head and she told herself everything she would do once this ship reached the coast of… the enchanted forest.

She felt really relieved at being on this ship actually, she felt kind of free for the first time in her life.

Three days after the beginning of the journey she lay on the floor of the hut, trying to sleep. Her eyes were closed but it was pretty hard to fall asleep on the floor of a rocking ship even if she was exhausted after a day of work. Probably thinking she was sleeping she could hear whispers in the hut.

"Is she really the saviour?" one voice asked but the only answers the voice got was a bunch of "hush"-es and one said,

"Don't say a thing. The captain said that she couldn't know."

Emma froze. She had to keep on trying to look like she slept but it was hard when her whole system started to malfunction. What was this? Did Hook really… Did he really think she was  _the_  saviour? The one who was the daughter of, Emma could barely think it, Snow White and Prince Charming?

Now she finally understood why there hadn't been any piracy onboard, he really did think she was the… saviour. It all started to make sense now, why he had asked her to join him on the ship in the first place.

Emma wanted to laugh at his face, she, the saviour? She had grown up all alone, an orphan trying to pass through life. Some way she had succeeded at staying alive, but she pretty much owed her life to the other children of the streets where she had lived.

So he thought that she was the saviour? This should be interesting.

Emma felt as if she was the one on top, one step ahead of the captain. He just couldn't find out that she wasn't the saviour.

This would make it harder to run away later, he would probably want something from the saviour so she thanked the pirate, who had whispered in the dark, quietly in her head now forming new plans.

* * *

Hook sat on the deck of the ship, watching the stars. The stars were one of the few things he really appreciated here in life but tonight there were no stars on his mind. He had revenge on his mind, as always. Finally, he had found a way to get to the crocodile. Rumplestiltskin had for long now been… away you could call it. He had been cursed, really, and there had been no way to break it until now. Until Emma. Hook had the very key to breaking this bloody curse that lay over the enchanted forest as a thick and soft blanket.

One day the whole kingdom just froze and ever since then time had stood still there. The curse itself was a mystery and no one Hook knew had known who had cast it. Maybe something had went wrong, Hook wasn't sure. He had no idea how the princess had gotten out of that place but she had and now he could free the kingdom and finally kill the crocodile and then maybe, he could find peace at last.

At least, peace was what Hook wished for but there was a small part of him that always questioned him if he would get peace after that bloody Rumplestiltskin was dead. That small part of him knew that maybe his own life was in danger, that this really just was a suicide mission but hell, he had dedicated his life to something, aye?

Hook chuckled to himself as he sat there, all by himself. There was something funny in the death of the crocodile, something really bloody funny.


	3. Too Strong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The longest chapter I've written!(still it's not that long haha)
> 
> I think I like this one, but I'm not very sure about the writing, it feels a bit weird with the time and the two intense scenes taking place so shortly after each other. But please, enjoy!

_The pull on my flesh was just too strong_

_It stifled the choice and the air in my lungs_

* * *

_Killian knew it was wrong. She had a child and was married, even if it was to the village's coward. Even if he was a pirate, he'd always considered himself being a gentleman._

_But Milah… She was enchanting and the way she made him feel was indescribable. Even if it was wrong he had let himself being talked into getting her on the ship but now it felt even more wrong and it didn't have to do with the fact that she had a child or even that she was married. It was only her eighth day onboard and it was bad weather, surely a storm on the way. Killian had never been afraid of storms, but this was different. Milah was on the ship and even if he'd only known her for a small period of time he didn't want to lose her like he'd lost Liam._

_She only being there promised him something more and made him feel whole, oh this woman, she drove him mad and he would do everything he could to keep her safe._

_The storm harassed the ship all night but when the sun came up, the sea was as calm as if the storm never had taken place._

_Killian laughed out of relief and fatigue when he saw Milah stand there, the woman of the storm inside his heart._

* * *

It was a nice day and Hook was feeling pretty light, actually. Nearly none of the pirates were up onboard, the ship nearly sailed itself a day like this. There were only three people on the upper deck; Hook, Emma and Smee, that was sitting high up in the mast looking down at the blue sea.

Hook couldn't keep still and was longing for a real good fight with a sword. When swords crossed his mind he got an idea.

"Emma! You know how to fight?" It was a good idea. He might as well have her believe this show about her being one on the crew.

Emma turned to Hook, looking at him with a suspicious look on her face.

"Why?" she asked.

"A pirate's life is all about surviving and.."

"You don't think I can fight?" Emma cut him off, lifting her eyebrows.

"Never said that lass, but if that's how you want it." He shrugged with a teasing face and Emma shot a look telling him she accepted the challenge.

Hook went down to the lower deck of the ship, soon back with two swords. He threw Emma one of them and once she'd caught it she moved her legs apart, now standing in a fighting position, ready for Hook to make the first move. He watched her for a moment, taking in the sight of her, feeling her energy.

Then he too took the sword in his hand and lowered himself as they began circling, closely watching each other smallest moves like two dogs, sensing each others energy. Hook decided to make his move and swung the sword against Emma who quickly met up with her sword. The fight went on for a while, both fighting aggressively. The sound of metal meeting metal and their feet dancing against the floor brought some of the pirates up on deck. Hook was keeping pretty much a straight face, but he really was impressed. Sure, she wouldn't beat him, he was a pirate with over 300 years of experience with his sword in his hand but he was pretty sure that if he would've been the same age as her, she would've beaten him. Hook felt a hit on his shoulder and if this had been a real fight he knew that she would've had injured him.

* * *

The small space for the fight made the aggressive dance hard but they both did their best, jumping around the deck and watching the other one move.

Emma was aware that she was the underdog but she fought with lots of anger that made her dangerous. But after a while Emma suddenly found herself standing with her back against mast with Hook's cold sword close to her throat.

He leaned in, closely, as if he was going to kiss her and Emma's heart that already was beating fast started to act like the wings of a hummingbird. She told herself that it was only her heart trying to pump the blood around her body but she knew, deep down inside, that there was something else. There had been a tension between them since they met and this wasn't the first time she felt it.

She could hear his heavy breathing and se his red face as he in the last second turned and went for the side of her head.

"Dead," he whispered in her ear before he moved backwards and let her go, the cold metal leaving her throat. Emma closed her eyes, trying to catch her breath.

Applauds were coming from the cabin of the boat and Emma looked over and saw nearly the whole crew standing there, cheering them on, someone waving their hat and screaming loudly. She hadn't noticed them coming up while they were fighting but now she saw them. She felt a bit embarrassed but also proud, not losing instantly. Hook bowed to the crew, causing them to applaud even more and then he sat down. After a while of cheering they got quieter and went to the lower deck again, probably playing games of poker and drinking rum as she'd seen them do so many times before

"You're bloody brilliant, Emma!" He called out a while after the crew had gone down again.

Emma looked into his blue eyes, finding nothing but truth in his them. She looked away and decided not to answer, still catching her breath.

"Can I ask who taught you?"

It felt like she had been hit in the head. The person who taught her was Neal and of course he had to bring it up.

Emma tried to fight back the feelings as aggressively she'd fought Hook only minutes ago but it was hard. She managed to catch some of them, holding herself together.

"Someone not that very important."

They were weird, these feelings. It had been so long ago, it had been years but still only his name affected her in this way. He had broken her completely and utterly and she still didn't feel quite whole. She hated the way he made her feel, so useless.

* * *

Hook could se her pain, he could feel it and he could se himself in her. His heart wanted to soothe her but he couldn't, he wasn't sure how to do it anymore. Besides, she was only here to… be used. Again, it seemed like.

"You're pretty broken, aye?" The words just slipped out of his mouth, his stupid tongue always trying to be clever. The words didn't sound harsh but he knew how hash they could feel.

Emma looked up at him, looking deeply into his eyes. He didn't feel quite comfortable where he sat on the railing, her hazel eyes piercing through his blue.

"Takes one to know one," Emma answered and Hook looked down. It didn't happen that very often that he looked away but he felt as if he had done something wrong. Feelings he didn't quite know how to handle popped into his head making him fight them and shove them back into their place. Anger bloomed out instead and replaced the unwelcomed feelings.

"You don't kn…" He looked up to se her, she who had told him he was broken. To tell her that she didn't know anything but when he looked up he found that where she had been standing, now were empty and when he realised that the only one listening were the sea and the air, silence fell over him and numbed his boiling feelings.

* * *

The distance between her and Hook had been huge for some days. It felt good and she wasn't distracted while she was working as usually, climbing the masts and scrubbing floor all in pirate- like manners. She felt a bit bad for what she had said, but she didn't know why. He was the one who had intruded her private life, he and his saviour crap. The word saviour made her feel a bit sick but it still made her have this good opportunity to get to the Enchanted Forest. The plan was right now to just run away, find nearest place to get a horse and just ride off. Emma was good at hiding and if this whole thing meant she'd have to hide for a while she was perfectly fine with it. She could live of nearly nothing and if she had to, she was pretty well taught in the art of stealing.

A raindrop landed on the middle of her head, breaking her thoughts. Today the waves had been unusually big, the sky was a bit grey and the air felt cold as it rushed all around making the ship rock a bit. The whole crew seemed to be a little on their tip toes and Emma wasn't sure why. She walked over to the pirate with the small, red hat, whom she was pretty sure was named Smee. He was the one who'd said the thing about her being "the saviour". Emma wasn't sure about why she asked him but she could feel that he wasn't very clever and easily said too much.

"Hey, do you know why everyone is tipping around on their toes?"

Smee looked up from his work, tying some knots (why that now was a job anyway?).

"Don't you know?" he said giving her a surprised look. Emma shook her head, no, she didn't know.

"Well, whenever there's a storm on the way the Captain, he gets mad, really angry at everything we do, nothing is good enough. I think it's because of that Milah…" Smee's eyes grew big when he said Milah's name, indicating he'd probably said too much.

"Who is Milah?" Emma asked, now interested.

"Was," he corrected her. Smee looked around as to se if nobody was around and then took a deep breath and lowered his voice.

"She was the one who broke his heart and made him sick with this need for revenge when she died. She was killed by the same man who cut of his hand and I've even heard that the one that killed her was her husband." He laughed nervously and looked down at his hands that were moving around each other.

Emma was nearly speechless, it all made sense. Now, she had information about him that could be useful. She wasn't sure in what way, but it could be. Emma thanked Smee and walked away from him, feeling a bit like the wind, unsure about what direction to put her feelings in.

 _That bastard, seeking revenge._  Emma knew pain and still she didn't let herself get the joy of revenge, she knew it wasn't good and even if she struggled from time to time she still felt okay. Revenge, it was selfish.

Her thoughts broke when the ship suddenly moved to the side, making the ship squeak. She'd barely been able to stand up during the big toss and once the ship nearly was standing up straight again she noticed some small raindrops falling from the n9w open, grey sky. The ship continued to rock aggressively as if it was a horse trying to buck them off.

"Make yourselves useful," Hook screamed as loud as he probably could.

"Prepare for a storm and get to your places!"

Emma wasn't sure where her place was but she saw every pirate making their way to their places with serious faces. This seemed to be some real business but her heart wasn't racing – she was good with these kinds of situations and always kept her mind focused.

She decided that she should stand next to one of the sailors by one of the big sails, where it looked like they were a man short. Everyone on the ship kept silent, just waiting and preparing themselves for the worst. The only thing you could hear was the wind screaming, the ship squeaking and the waves hitting the sides of the Jolly Roger.

Suddenly, around five minutes after Hook had ordered them all to take their places, hell broke loose. A big wind caught the sail and began to play around with it, making the ship tilt further and further, and making Emma feel as if the ground was moving. Then, the wind released the sails and the big ship made its way back. Huge waves started hitting the front of the ship's body (Emma wasn't sure of the correct names) and even more water started flying through the air.

The rain didn't make it better and Emma didn't understand how they could turn from small innocent drops to these big drops that were hitting her face hardly. The sailors around her started screaming to each other, instructions and information about how big the waves were and how much to release the ropes.

Now, after being on the ship for roughly a week she understood a small bit of what they were saying but mostly she felt like she was on auto-pilot, her body just worked.

The wind hit the ship and played with them, the waves tossed them around, the rain hit them and made it hard to se and the clouds in the sky made it feel like it was night.

* * *

The storm was really intense, even for the pirate who had been in countless of them. Hook tried to steer the ship and call out instructions to the crew. He wasn't sure about why the sudden storm had approached them but he had a small idea. He knew they were close to the EnchantedForest and maybe the curse around the area had caused this. He having the saviour onboard should've calmed it down, but then again the curse still wasn't broken.

Something on the deck suddenly caught his eye and he couldn't help himself but scream.

" _EMMA!_ "


	4. Breathe a Lie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got a question in the reviews - on ff.net - (I did a happy dance) but I'm not sure how you answer them and I saw another person answering it here, so that's what I'll do.
> 
> Um so this is what I wrote on ff.net and I thought that some of you might find interest in it??? I don't know. HERE'S THE QUESTION:
> 
> I like your story...I'm really curious about Emma and Hook's backstory...She doesn't have Henry here isn't it? And of course I wonder about what the curse did this time apart from the frozen thing. And does Emma know that someone is supposed to be the saviour or she just thinks that is not true, does she even know that the EF is cursed? And why does she want to go there, just for adventure and where's Neal?( not that I care about him, just curious).  
> I bet that Emma must have fell in the water, will he save her?
> 
> First of all, thank you! In this chapter you'll be given quite a lot of answers, but not every single one.  
> Emma isn't aware that the EF is cursed. She unconsciously wanted to go there, because… Well, read the chapter! Other than that, I wanted this story to keep every reader guessing and wondering and some of it will be given away in the end. I really do hope you enjoy! And with the water, yes, she fell in! ;)

_Better not to breathe than to breathe a lie  
'Cause when I open my body I breathe a lie_

* * *

_She could hear it scream. The doctor smiled so happily, why was he happy? She had just given birth to a baby whose father was the worst man in history, hell, she had just given birth to a baby whom she could never se again._

_"Emma, you can still be a mother, you know that?"_

_Emma felt a growing hate towards the doctor, she could never be a mother. She could smell his dangerous lie even from where she was laying, sweaty and tired._

_The doctor was holding the baby, slowly rocking it. He held out the baby towards her._

_"It's a boy, Emma, a perfectly healthy boy."_

_She couldn't look at the baby; she knew she would do something stupid._

_It's for his own good, she told herself, closing her eyes._

_"I can not be a mother, I'm sorry, just please get him out of here."_

_Emma could hear the doctor walk out of the room, stopping in the door._

_"I think you would've been a good mother, Emma."_

_Lies, lies, lies, lies._

_Would people ever stop lying to her?_

* * *

Emma opened her eyes. At first she couldn't really see, the light made her eyes irritated and it was all blurry. She felt an aching pain in her head. One of her hands reached up for her eyes, rubbing them to get better vision.

Where was she? Emma had never before seen this place and even if she usually were perfectly calm this freaked her out a bit.

It wasn't freezing cold but it definitely wasn't warm either so when Emma sat up she pulled the blanket she had over her body tighter towards her. The blanket was made out of wool, thick and smelled like salty water.

Her head started aching even worse when she sat up but she tried to ignore it. She could feel the room rocking slowly and on one of the walls was full of windows, showing her the sea with now calm waves. Emma understood she still was on the ship but she had never seen this room before. It was huge compared to the other rooms on the ship and contained one big bed, a dresser, the small sofa she was on, some bookcases and two paintings. The furniture was made out of old, rich wood and the walls had a dark crimson colour with gold markings. In the ceiling there were more wood, holding up the whole ship.

Emma's brain was slow but after a while she understood where she was; the Captain's Quarters, also known as Hook's room. She shivered a bit, not sure if it was because of the cold or the freaky realisation that she was in Hook's room.

She looked around again, her brain telling her to find clues about him, everything could be useful even if she didn't know how or when.

Emma tried to stand up even if her whole body screamed at her not to and it was when she fully stood up she noticed her clothes. It wasn't  _her_  clothes, it was somebody else's but they were on her body. She looked down at them, trying to take it all in; it was a woman's clothes, that much she was sure of. They fit her nicely and she didn't really care about the clothes that wasn't what she was freaking out over, but about that somebody must have put them on her.  _Hook._  Emma felt sick by now, both from her head and from the thought of Hook undressing her. Why had he done it?

She took a step towards the dresser. Up on the dresser she found small drawn picture of a woman. Emma had never seen her before and her slow brain wondered silently who it was. Hadn't that Smee told her something? Emma's brain worked the hardest it could, making her forget the aching a bit. A name popped into her head.

Milah? Who..? Suddenly she remembered. She took another look at the woman in the drawn picture, long, wavy and dark hair and piercing light eyes. Emma felt as if she had seen this face before; it was at least familiar to her.

Could this woman really be the one who made Hook this way?

* * *

Hook felt furious by now. He had always hated storms; they made him think of Milah and now this whole mess… He understood that his anger wasn't really anger, it was concern and pain but since when did he feel concern? If he wouldn't had needed the Saviour he would have thrown her out by now, her presence made him annoyed, that was what he told himself at least.

The storm had gotten calmer and some of the men had already started drinking again and two of them had started dancing, doing everything they could while trying to keep warm. They made him angry with their happy dance; he didn't want them here, not now.

"Stop dancing you two, get out of here." He screamed at them. The two pirates stopped and stared at him.

"NOW!" ¨

He felt as if he was spitting fire when they started to tumble around trying to get to the downer deck. Hook wanted nothing else than to get out of here, he wanted to sleep.

The waves weren't high anymore and Hook turned to his favourite of the pirates; Svensson - a boy who looked around 21 years old but he was nearly as old as Hook in reality.

"Can you manage?"

The boy looked up and nodded. He knew how to do this.

Hook nodded towards him and started walking against the Captain's Quarters, relieved to get away from the deck. He wanted nothing else than to sleep this horrible night off after drowning it with rum.

Forgetting Emma was in there he opened the door, finding her standing in the middle of the room looking surprised and a bit guilty.

He caught her off guard just like she did with him.

"You up?" Hook finally said after them just standing there looking at each other for a while, he was tense and felt a bit embarrassed because of what had happened.

"Apparently."

He got in and closed the door, trying not to look at her.

"What happened?"

Hook, whom had been started to walk across the room stopped and turned to her.

"You don't remember?" A spark of hope started growing.

She started to shake her head but stopped halfway in, cursing and closing her eyes.

Hook watched her, semi amused, semi concerned (that feeling again, why did it keep spooking him?) He then walked over to her, offering his arm to help her sit down, ready to giggle. She didn't remember.

"I can do it myself," she spitted out. Slowly she moved towards the sofa and sat down, now watching him. "So, tell me. And don't leave out anything; I'll know when you lie."

* * *

Hook gave her a funny look and leaned against the other end on the sofa, resting one leg on the sofa and the other one on the floor.

He looked at her face.

"I have no idea how you did it, but you fell of the bloody boat and then I made sure you got up and in here." Something didn't seem right. The first part seemed like the truth but the ending… It had lie written all over it, even her hurting brain could tell that.

"No, seriously, tell me what happened." Emma was tired, her head was aching and she wanted nothing else than to get away from here. This place reminded her of the past and she didn't like it. She didn't like sitting this close to him; she didn't like it at all.

"That's my story, princess."

That word again, princess. She was  _NOT_  a princess, she was no saviour. Emma wouldn't normally snap and spill out everything, but the surroundings and her aching, confused brain made it hard.

"I have no idea where you have gotten that idea from," Emma started, looking deep into his stupid eyes. "I'm not a princess, I'm not a saviour. I'm a broken orphan; I grew up on the streets, got thrown into jail by a man I trusted, I gave birth to his child, gave it away and then I just ended up there, in 'Boast On', I desperately wanted out of there, somewhere new and there you were offering me a place on a ship to the enchanted forest where that child I gave away ended up and I… I…"

Her mouth had just started talking by itself and without her realising it she started sobbing, tears running down her face showing her darkest secrets. She looked away from his eyes, she wanted out of here but her head ached and she was tired and she had just spilled her life story to a pirate who planned to use her.

* * *

Hook felt as if he had been struck by a lightning. How could she know?

As he panicked at the thought he also desperately wanted to help her. To touch her, catch her tears and make them go away by telling her it was all fine and that he was an orphan too. He wanted to tell her that it was going to be alright but instead he sat there, frozen as if the curse had struck him too, just staring at her, feeling her pain, feeling his pain and trying to fight the feelings of him wanting to help her. He lost the fight and started moving towards her. He put a hand on her back, slowly moving it around. When he put his hand there Emma winced and looked up, looking at his face and again that frozen feeling hit him.

Hook opened his mouth, trying to find words.

"I… I was an orphan too."

It was hard to say those words out loud, but he felt as if he had too. He wanted her know it, in a way, to tell her they were alike. He didn't know what he was feeling; he was so torn, torn between his desperate want for revenge and his strange feelings for this girl.

Emma looked away, taking one hand to get rid the tears.

"Tell me what happened." Emma said, strongly and determined now, looking at the floor.

Hook didn't know what to do other than tell her.

"I was standing up by the wheel, trying to control it in that bloody weather. I looked out over the ship and saw you. I think you got hit by something. You were moving towards the railing and tumbled over it. When I saw it I quickly called on Svensson, asking him to take over for me as I jumped after you and got you from the water. Then I brought you here, seeing as it is probably the safest place on ship and because I got blankets." He added half a smile on the end trying to conceal the last truth he had left.

It was as true as it could be, as true as he could ever confess; the only thing he left out was where he didn't ask Svensson to take over and he just mindlessly jumped after her, too afraid to even think.

It wasn't that he knew her very well or that he needed her for his revenge; it was simply because of he couldn't even think about Emma not existing.

* * *

This time he was telling the truth, she could feel it. Still not looking at him but feeling his eyes nearly burning a whole in the back of her head she asked him another question.

"Why am I on this ship?"

"I told you."

"You lied."

She was angry now, her feelings transferred into anger. How dared he suggest he understood her? And why on earth would he save her life? Oh yes, to use her.

Emma didn't know why she felt so betrayed; she had known something was off from the start so why did she get so upset? She had known he thought she was the saviour so again,  _why did she get so upset?_

Hook sighed.

"I thought you had a bor…"

"DO NOT TRY THAT!"

Ignoring her aching head Emma stood up, she was done. She started making her way to the door but Hook stopped her, stepping in in front of her, of course trying to block her way.

He looked as if he wasn't sure what to say and suddenly Emma noticed how close they were. She looked up at him and… his lips. Half a second later they met hers. The kiss was passionate, Emma letting her anger in it. She could feel his hand reaching her cheek and her hand doing the same, but reaching his hair.

What was she doing? Emma. Stop.

She broke the kiss as fast as she possibly could, made her way around Hook and left the room in a hurry.

Emma stood in the cold night air, stressing and breathed heavily with an aching head and with red lips. She looked upon the stars and then onto the sea. That's when she saw it.

She could se land, she could se a shore.

They had made it to the Enchanted Forest and the second she saw the small lifeboat Emma made her decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I HOPE IT WAS AN ENJOYABLE READ!   
> Feel very free to comment and stuff, like you're REALLY welcome to, loke yeah.


	5. Your values are all shot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter but oh well, new chapter tomorrow!

_I will not speak of your sin_

_There was a way out for Him_   
_The mirror shows not_

_Your values are all shot_

* * *

_Killian Jones couldn't believe it, he simply couldn't wrap his head around this poisonous plant. The anger made his body stiff and the adrenaline from Liam nearly dying were still pumping through his veins._

_"Killian, it's alright. I'm still alive, thanks to you. But I can't let go of the though that our king lied to us, he wants us to fight wars with a deadly poison."_

_Killian looked up at Liam, nodding towards his beloved brother._

_"That is no way to fight a war."_

_"As you would say brother; it's bad form."_

* * *

Hook sat down on the bed with a bruised mind and a tired body. His shoulders were tense and his mind were circulating around Emma, Emma and Emma. She had left his room and he knew better than to go after her. He desperately wanted to, but that was no excuse that was good enough for him and he simply didn't want to get hurt again. Sadly, letting himself go after Emma meant that he was fine with giving away his heart and that he was not ready to do.

He laid down on the bed, resting his head against the pillow. He didn't know how to deal with this, he had no clue and him being a 300 year old pirate this feeling was pretty foreign to him; he had always known what to do before.

As Hook closed his eyes and fell deeper and deeper into the sleep he realized one thing; he knew he was able to let go of Milah, he knew that he was finally letting go of his first love and this made him scared because who was he, if not the pirate seeking revenge?

* * *

Emma reached the beach, sweaty and with a head that still was aching. She jumped out of the boat and took some shaky steps until she no longer stood in the water. She didn't care about the small boat, everything she could think about now was that she had to get away from here. If Emma had been to her full senses she may had noticed something strange about this beach but because of her being tired and feeling a bit sick she didn't notice anything.

Desperate to get away from this place Emma continued to stumble over the beach, slowly making her way to the forest just a few steps away but it seemed so far from her. The sand made it hard for her and the world was still rocking even if she now had solid ground under her feet.

As Emma took her first step into the safety of the woods her foot found a root on the green ground and she fell front first to the ground.

Everything turned black again for Emma.

* * *

When Hook woke up he knew he had to do something. He couldn't let this revenge eat him up anymore, he simply couldn't do it, not if it could hurt Emma or if she didn't want to. Feeling good about himself he sat up, stretching his rested body and then standing up with a smile on his face. He noticed he'd forgotten to remove the hook from his arm last night when he started to get dressed.

Hook went smiling out on deck, to feel the cold morning, to smell the salty water and to wake himself up. A quiet song started to play on his lips as he walked up to the wheel, taking in the morning.

Today was a good day, that much he knew. After a while some pirates started to come up on deck, with tired eyes and bodies that looked even more tired but even if they were lazy, hang over and mostly tired, Hook didn't care, not today.

* * *

"Emma, Emma! Wake up!"

Emma started to move, feeling sand covering her body. The second before she opened her eyes she started thinking. Who knew her name?

When she opened her eyes she met another pair of eyes she'd hope to never to se again, she'd sworn she'd never se them again. Neal.

When Emma recognized his face she jumped up to her feet, her whole world rocking and her body tensing.

What was he doing here and how did he find her? Had he come looking for her? And if so why?

Emma felt sick when she saw his face.

"Why are you here?"

Neal looked a bit sad as he stood up, brushing off some sand from his pants.

He looked so much older, so much mature from when she'd last seen him. But after all, it had been 9 years.

"Emma, I'm... I'm sorry."

Her heart hurt now, like something was squeezing it. She was over him, but it still hurt as hell.

"Why?" she said with her teeth clenched.

"I'm here to save my father."

He sounded sincere in what he was saying but Emma knew he was full of shit. Him trying this with her made her even more angry.

"Your father? Neal, you were brought up on the street, just like me. Or did you not only leave me to rot in prison, did you also lie to me?"

Neal looked down at the ground as Emma spitted out the words at him.

"I never wanted it to turn out this way. I was threatened and this guy he... told me I had to get you arrested. About my father..."

Emma was furious by now, only seconds after she'd woken up.

"Neal, we were a team. You don't just leave your partner behind, pregnant and everything and then just fuck off because someone told you to."

Again the words just fell out of her mouth, the words she had been wanting to scream to his face for far too long.

"I have a child?"

He looked up at her with puppy eyes and everything and the only thing she wanted to do was to scream, to punch him in his face, to push him off a cliff. There was no other way to express her feelings. How did she end up here and couldn't her life stop to be this complicated and so fast-moving?

"No Neal. You are a biological father to some child out there but that boy is even less related to you than he's to me."

Neal's expression was... indescribable. He was speechless so Emma decided to take the situation in her hand and maybe she could use him to get out of this place, fast.

They both stood there, looking at each other, full of feelings.

Emma felt tired and angry, confused and hurt. All her life people had told her who she was, but she'd had enough. She'd never wear this coat again, the coat that was made out of other's expectations of her. She was done and angry, but mostly tired.

* * *

When the sun stood high upon the sky, every pirate was out on deck except for her. Hook had started to wonder a bit if she was hiding from him and he had decided in his best gentleman manner to let her come to him, but bloody hell it was hard to stay away.

Finally, he asked Svensson to take his place for a second as he went downstairs, nervous. He chuckled lightly at himself, nervous. Since when did he become nervous?

When he reached the cabin he stopped. There was no one, it was empty. Only one look around the small sleepinghuts and his body felt cold. Why the hell had he been nervous? Why would he even think that... the thought of letting someone in again had let him here.

Never again.

He felt hurt in a way and of course he decided to cover it all up the only way he knew, to go for revenge. The dark cloud that was revenge once again entered his body, numbing his real feelings, pushing them away until he only felt the darkness.

After all he was a bloody pirate, ay.

"So the curse is real?"

"Yes."

"And your father is stuck here? And he's the... the dark one?"

A nod was the only answer she needed. Emma didn't know how she'd been able to calm herself down but once she'd noticed that this strange place they were in  _didn't move_  she'd let herself getting convinced even if it was  _Neal_ that helped her. Even Hook was to prefer in this situation and he'd kis...  _No, don't even think about it, Emma,_  she told herself.

Neal sat still, watching her every move and Emma started to feel a bit uncomfortable.

They sat on two big rocks Neal had showed her, telling her that he could explain. So here they were, in the middle of a green forest, trees everywhere but nothing moved, Emma had even seen some birds in the sky that were frozen.

"Where are you going now?" he finally asked.

"I have no idea."

"You can come with me, I can show you the way to the more," he looked around, "alive part of the EnchantedForest."

She couldn't help but smile a little bit, this was easier than she thought.

"Okay, but we don't speak of what have happened." This was her only concern, she didn't want to get drown in all these memories again and she could use a little help even if she would much rather go on her own, she knew nothing about this frozen land and her head was still not fine.

* * *

Hook yelled out his instructions as fast as he was up on deck again.

"Back! We're going back!"


	6. My heart was flawed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapters.. I'm afraid the most of the one's that are left are pretty short but the final word count are around 20'000 words so yes.  
> Enjoy this chapter as I've tried to put much thought into it even if I've struggled a bit and I'm still not sure about it.

_But oh, my heart was flawed_

_I knew my weakness_

* * *

_"Do you have anything to spare?" Emma's eyes was big, using the 'puppy-eyes'-technique an older child had taught her. She watched the man with her big, sad and hungry eyes as he dug through his small purse after some coins. She didn't like to beg but sometimes it was necessary; today was the second day of no food._

_It was hard growing up on the streets but either way Emma felt lucky sometimes, she had a couple of friends and some older kids often helped her and gave her some food if she hadn't found anything. But other days she just cried without a stop; some people said that you can't want what you've never had but Emma knew how untrue that was._

_Emma longed after getting older and getting a job, but mostly a family, a family that would care for her and that she would care for._

_When the man gave her two coins Emma showed her seven-years old toothless smile and thanked him because now she'd maybe get some food._

* * *

It felt like they had walked for an eternity in these frozen forests. The only thing that was moving was Neal, whom walked in front of her and Emma watched his every move carefully. Still, she wasn't sure what to think or feel and everything seemed to be a complete mess right now but some survival instinct had told her to follow him, to trust him. Maybe it even was that lost teenage girl seeking his approval, she wasn't sure. The only think she knew was that he knew these forests and roads and Emma, well; she didn't.

So she continued to follow him, watching him closely. Neither of them said very much but Emma found that she nearly wished herself back upon the Jolly Roger. Here, in this frozen forest there was no sound and it was a bit scary. Up on the ship there was always enough sounds to drown in and Emma found that calming.

Not even the blue sky moved and the lack of wind was very strange. High up in the sky two birds had been frozen and Emma just wished for them to move, for something to be normal. This whole situation felt so strange and Emma felt as if she and Neal had been thrown into some sort of dream and she didn't like it at all.

"Emma."

Emma jumped a bit at the sound of Neal's voice in the far too silent forest.

"What?"

Neal turned his head around to find her eyes.

"Where did you want to go?"

Her mouth felt dry as she tried to speak.

"Umm.. Out of here."

It felt strange to say out loud.

"Not from where we came from though," she added quickly when she saw Neal's strange look.

* * *

Furious anger, that was he felt. He simply couldn't think straight, everything felt strange as if someone had carved a whole in his body and then just left it there, open but not bleeding for some reason.

He wanted the ship to move faster but the wind was nearly gone now, the curse making it slower the closer they came towards the land.

Hook hadn't planned anything, he only knew that he wanted to take that bloody saviour, break the curse however that now was done and then just take his hook and bury it in Rumplestiltskin's blackened heart. He wanted to se the life disappear out of the Dark One's eyes and he wanted to se him fall, fall down to the ground. Hook wanted to laugh, laugh carelessly at Rumplestiltskin's lifeless body.

The revenge had once again started to eat his thoughts and deep down he still wondered if the Dark One would be killed that easy and if it was that easy, then what would he do after he was finished? The only logical answer was that he would die when fighting the Dark One, in a way that had always been his plan. Killing the one that killed his love while killing himself so he didn't have to keep on, because was there anything left of Hook when he'd had his revenge?

The revenge had eaten him up and it was the only thing that was left of him.

His heart was flawed; it was broken to pieces, only functional because of his hate and the revenge was his weakness in a way, he'd always go back to this.

* * *

Neal had shrugged to Emma's answer and they had continued to walk but Emma didn't trust him anymore. Her trust were nonexistent and his incompetence to say anything about where they were headed had reminded her of her true nature, the nature he had taught her.

For the millionth time she caught herself thinking of the Jolly Roger but mostly the dark haired pirate onboard it. She wondered if he'd figured out where she was and she told herself that the only reason she was thinking of him was because she didn't want him to find her; she didn't want to get dragged into this "saviour" bullshit. A thought hit her when she thought about the saviour and the curse.

"How are you going to get to your father? Isn't he cursed?"

Neal turned around when walking along the narrow, rocky road they now were on. He looked a bit surprised.

"Yes, he got struck by the curse. But I've heard that 28 years after the curse hit there would come a saviour to break the curse and in a few days the 28th anniversary is here."

Emma felt as she'd been hit by the lightning. Why was she here? She wasn't the saviour.. How?

She saw that Neal turned around again when she didn't answer and she realised he hadn't been thinking about her being the saviour. Fuck, what Hook had told her had really gotten to her, now she'd even starting to believe other people thought she was the saviour.  _Actually_ , she corrected herself,  _it wasn't Hook that told you, he actually didn't say anything_.

Thinking about this she realised that he maybe never thought she was the saviour and maybe he actually wasn't planning to use her. She felt a bit cold when she realised this, but tried to shake it off.

It didn't work, the thought were tugging on her and in a short while she was convinced that she'd misread the whole situation.

_Of course you didn't misread him Emma, he was lying to you. Maybe he was lying about something else? Like what, Emma? He's a pirate if you don't recall._

* * *

When the day should've turned to night (but didn't due to the curse) they reached the same beach as they had sailed along last night when Emma had left his room.

A small life boat caught his eye and he'd be damned if it wasn't his.

Again, the anger came running to his head.

"Aye, pirates! This is where I leave you to watch over my ship. Don't you bloody dare take her, you know what will happen if you even so much as think of it."

It had happened once before that one of the men had tried to take his Jolly Roger; but Hook had found that bastard and shown that his threats wasn't something to play with.

The pirate jumped into the second lifeboat and after a short while he reached the beach. The sand was damp even if there were no waves, no life.

But, there was one thing that was off, there were footprints that led him towards the forest. Following them he soon reached the forest. Once the footprints were safely in the forest they stopped and instead Hook could se a mark of a body but there was no blood or anything.

When Hook saw another pair of footprints he felt a little uneasy. There were no others in the EnchantedForest that wasn't frozen. Who was this?

* * *

Suddenly the forest opened up and in the middle between the one they just walked out of and yet another forest there was a small, narrow gravel road. Emma sighed as she saw it; finally no more of the green, frozen trees. Well, at least she didn't had to walk as close to them as before.

When she looked further along the road she saw something, something small that looked an awful lot like a... no, it couldn't be?

"Neal, is that a... is that a house?"

Neal took a hand to cover his eyes from the sun.

When he saw the small hut his expression changed and he lightened up.

"I'd be damned if it wasn't!"

With new energy they made their way up to the small house which turned out to be a small cabin. Emma opened the door after they had looked around the cabin. The inside was pretty clean but it was dull due to no lightning other than the sun.

When Emma's eyes had gotten used to the lightning she could se a small table with two chairs, a fireplace and a drawer. There were no humans inside and Emma felt a bit relieved because seeing someone frozen couldn't be very nice.

Emma and Neal searched the cabin and only found one useful thing; a sword. Since Neal already had his own, Emma took the sword. In her hands it felt heavy but she liked the feeling of the cold, heavy steel in her hand. It made her feel stronger and it felt good to be able to protect herself if... if she had to.

* * *

Hook had never thought about it but he actually was a good tracker and the no-wind situation helped a lot.

A couple of hours after arriving to the shore Hook found a cabin that someone clearly been in not that long ago.

Still, the fact that there were two pair of feet made him feel a strange.


	7. Consign me not to darkness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good day folks! The seventh chapter, I'm excited! I'm sorry if this chapter feels a bit out of character, but this is an AU and Emma and Hook are not completely the same as they are in the series. I mean, sure, nearly everything, but not EVERYTHING.
> 
> A review on ff.net mentioned that there are many twists in my story and I have to agree, I sure love twists, so here you have two more!

_So hold my hand_

_Consign me not to darkness_

* * *

_Baelfire looked like Hook had smacked him across his face._

_"So this is why I'm here? Because you want to kill my father?"_

_It had been so stupid, why, why, why had he been so stupid? Hook couldn't help but love the boy and now he'd made him upset and not a little bit either, this was serious._

_"Bae... He killed your mother."_

_He knew that it didn't matter to Bae but still he wanted to tell him why he was doing this, he thought maybe Bae would understand._

_But Bae didn't seem to understand, not even a little bit. Instead he looked disgusted and sad, he'd been let down._

_"I'd rather live with Pan than doing this anymore. Goodbye, pirate."_

_As so many times before that word, pirate, made his heart ache. He didn't want to be defined as that anymore, he thought as Bae just recklessly jumped off the ship into the water. Hook knew he should've had jumped after the boy, but he couldn't, he knew he'd hurt Baelfire and that it would take time to heal it_

* * *

Hook had followed them for a little while now and he still couldn't understand who that figure she called Neal was. He reminded Hook of someone but he had met so many people in his life that he wasn't sure if he'd ever met this man. There was something strangely familiar about him though, his looks and the way he walked. _  
_

Hook had only heard them say a few words to each other and he wasn't sure of their relationship. Emma seemed pretty cold towards the guy but he didn't seem to mind all that much.

Hook also wasn't sure why he hadn't shown himself yet, maybe he was still unsure if he was going to do this.

* * *

On the second day that they were walking Emma suddenly heard something behind her, a strange noise. When walking with Neal it was almost silent the whole time but Emma had never felt uncomfortable with silence and she was fine with it. Neal tried to talk sometimes but either Emma answered shortly or not at all so after a while they only said the most necessary things to each other.

They had come a long way into the strange, frozen land and Emma didn't like the part where it was  _frozen_. It just felt wrong and this made the silence even thicker, so when Emma suddenly heard a sound she stiffened and stopped, trying to detect where the sound came from. She understood the noise came from behind her so she turned around.

Neal, who was in front of her noticed that Emma had stopped and he also stopped, giving Emma a look full of questions which Emma just ignored, completely focused on the sound.

Emma put her hand around the stolen sword they'd found in the small house along the road, ready to use it if they met someone.

* * *

Hook could se how Emma stopped and for a second he wondered why, before he felt a hand covering his mouth and a sweet, venomous scent reached his nose.

"Show yourself!" He heard Emma scream as he started to get dragged backwards. He felt as if he couldn't move, as if his body had just turned into some strange liquid. His eyes closed slowly but soon Hook felt his back getting slammed up against a tree and he felt awake again for a short moment. Fear had never been a feeling he used to feel but in this moment his heart started to pound. He felt the person who had slammed him against the tree getting close to his ear and he could hear a voice;

"Thank you for being such a good boy, Hook." He could hear how she licked her lips and he could smell that horribly sweet, poisonous smell. Even in his worst shape he recognized that voice.  _Cora_.

"But..." A knife was dancing along his neck and through his dizzy eyes he could se Cora's eyes that was fixated on the blade. Cora turned her eyes toward his again. "I don't need you anymore, pirate, so sadly I'll have to kill you."

Cora smiled when Hook opened his mouth, trying to speak. It was stupidly hard to get through the fog inside his mind.

"You didn't ask me to... to do anything."

It was hard to get out those words and his lips only managed to make it into a whisper.

"Too..."

Cora didn't get to finish the sentence because from behind her a blonde woman came running. Hook was sure she was an angel, she must've been. The angel threw a sword towards Cora who looked pissed off for a short second before snapping her fingers and disappearing in a cloud of purple smoke.

Hook fell to the ground, still dizzy. The angel was now by his side, taking his face in her beautiful hands, slapping his cheek lightly.

"Hook! Killian!"

* * *

Suddenly he opened his eyes and started to cough. She felt relieved that he seemed fine and she let go of her grip around his face.

"Is that... Captain Hook?" Emma jumped a bit when she heard Neal's voice from behind, she'd completely forgot about him. Now she turned to him quickly and nodded.

"Yes... Yes, it is." Neal got a strange look upon his face and Emma felt suspicion start to bubble through her veins.

When Neal saw Emma's suspicion he looked very tired, sighed and sat down on a rock.

Hook was still coughing when Neal opened his mouth, looking like he was searching for words.

"I.. I used to know him. I was on his ship, he taught me to sail. But that was," Neal looked away and suddenly seemed very far away, "long ago. Nearly like another life."

Hook had stopped coughing now and watched Neal with big eyes.

"Bae... Is that you?"

Neal didn't answer, instead he now looked angry.

"And why are you here, pirate? Still trying to murder my father?"

* * *

It hit him pretty hard. He... He couldn't. Not after this.

He couldn't let down Baelfire yet another time and he couldn't do it to Emma either. Emma, the angel.

Hook was trying to catch his breath, still with his back against the tree.

"No, I'm not, I won't do it." He watched Emma intensely, wondering how much she knew of this madness.

In the corner of his eyes Hook saw Bae nodding and then standing up, leaving without a word.

Still watching Emma, Hook figured that Baelfire would come back again, he probably just needed to think.

"Emma, thank you. You saved my life there." He wasn't very used to thanking anyone but this time he was sincere and his words were true.

Emma didn't looked at him, instead she also stood up with her back turned towards him.

"Who was that?"

* * *

She simply couldn't look at him, she knew what look he had on his face, she knew it all too well. Emma knew, that if she looked at his face, she'd melt and she couldn't have that.

"It was Cora, a very powerful witch. She's the mother of the witch who cursed this land."

Emma nodded and started walking after Neal.

"Emma, wait, we have to talk." His voice sounded desperate and she hated,  _hated_ , him in that second. Why did he have to push her?

Emma turned around and finally looked at his face and to her surprise she didn't get smacked across the face with his looks.

She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows.

"I'm listening."

He took another deep breath before he got started.

"Emma, I'm not sure how much you know about me but I've done so much wrong, mostly because of this bloody revenge but I can't do it anymore, I won't do it. I never thought I'd be capable of letting go of my first love, my Milah. To believe I could find someone else. That is…until I met you."

For a while it felt like time stopped there and both of them were just looking into each others eyes, trying to read the other one. Emma finally broke the eye contact, looking at the ground but she could still feel Hook's intense stare burning her skin. Instead of discussing the uncomfortable subject Emma cleared her throat to win some time before having to say something.

"Do you really think I'm the saviour?"

"Lass, if it's something I'm sure about, it's that."

At least he wasn't lying, that much she knew. What he'd said had hit her in the face and she still didn't know how to handle it, any of it.

She didn't notice it at first but suddenly Hook stood behind her and when Emma noticed she felt herself tense.

"I truly am sorry, Emma."

Still nearly speechless Emma turned to him and suddenly they were so close again, an energy pulling them closer to each other. Hook looked as vulnerable as Emma felt and without thinking her lips was on his. The kiss didn't last that long but it felt like an eternity. It was Emma that broke it, the feeling of her getting too close to this pirate began to reach levels that were too high for her. Without saying anything Emma just turned around and left the place, leaving Hook behind.

* * *

When Hook stood there, filled with joy and hope he heard a strange sound. It sounded like a scream but it suddenly disappeared. His feelings changed fast and he found himself running to the place where the scream had come from but he didn't arrive on time.

Everything that was left to se was a cloud of purple smoke.


	8. Broken Crown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank the ever-so-great Jarbion for leaving me such sweet comments... THANK YOU (!!!)

_So crawl on my belly 'til the sun goes down_

_I'll never wear your broken crown_

* * *

_The seven year old Emma watched as that other little girl walked down the street, hand in hand with a big man who appeared to be her father. Emma usually stood next to this house every afternoon to watch the two persons, the little girl and her father, walk along the road. They always seemed to be so happy and Emma always wished she was the one with her hand in her father's hand._

_She also wished that one day they would stop and notice her standing there, next to that house and that the father would point at her and tell the little girl with a face full of surprise, that Emma was his lost daughter and that the little girl had a sister._

_But this never happened, even if Emma stood next to that house every afternoon until she was 10 years old and the girl finally noticed her, pointed at her and opened her mouth._

_"Why is that poor and skinny girl watching us so creepily?"_

* * *

"Wake up, saviour! We do not have all day."

A strange voice called on her and Emma fell out of her slumber. When she opened her eyes she saw a woman in front of her eyes. It took a while for Emma to understand where she was and who the woman were, but soon it all went clear, or at least clearer. The woman, Cora, had knocked her out and then taken her here. Since nothing moved Emma understood she was still in the Enchanted Forest, but why had Cora called her the Saviou... No, no, no.

Cora was probably going to try to break the curse.

"So, trying to figure out my plan, are you?"

Emma had forgot about Cora for a second and realised that she'd probably let her face speak her thoughts. She opened her mouth slightly, not really sure what to say.

"I'm.. I'm not the saviour," she said tamely.

Cora just chuckled and turned around.

"Up now."

Emma felt a force that made her stand up and she began to walk after Cora. They were no longer in a forest and up ahead Emma could se something that looked an awful lot like a... castle. She felt a bit sick to her stomach, not sure why, but seeing this made her feel a bit uncomfortable. She was just a simple girl who had grown up on the streets and she'd never imagined she would ever se this, even less imagined that someone would believe that she was the saviour that was going to save this land from its current state.

"The only way you're going to get out alive is if you do as I say," Cora said without turning around.

When Emma didn't answer Cora turned around and made the invincible force around Emma's body tighten.

"Understand?"

"Yes," Emma managed to spit out, because right now she actually didn't se another way out of this.

Cora released her grip around Emma again and they went back to walking, now very close to the castle.

"Why are you doing this? What can you gain from it?" Emma asked, thinking she might at least get a little information out of this and she had also noticed that most 'villains' liked to share their grand plans.

"Well, actually, my daughter is in there somewhere and I plan to se her."

That was not what Emma had expected. This whole trip seemed to be people wanting to see their loved ones, both Neal and now this... Cora. Emma wasn't sure what exactly she had been expecting but it surely wasn't some reunion with a daughter.

Emma continued to think about this and trying to figure out how she could use this while they made their way to the gates.

Cora stopped in front of the big gates and turned to Emma with a big smile.

"Now it's your turn,  _princess_."

* * *

Both Hook and Baelfire stood there now, looking at the place where the smoke had been and at each other. Either of them was really sure how to act now but Hook was the one to break the silence.

"You know where this castle is, aye?"

Baelfire looked up and nodded.  
"Yes... I'm pretty sure."

"You will help me go and get Emma?"

A suspicious look raised upon Bae's face and Hook surely gave him all the rights in the world to give it to him.

"You're just trying to get to my father."

"I won't, Bae. I can only promise that I won't, I wish I could show you that you can trust me but look, I'll be going there either way and I know you will too, so why not trust me?"

Hook was execting some sort of disagreement but to his surprise Baelfire didn't disagree, he just nodded even if it was slightly unwillingly.

"Also, please call me Neal."

That was the least he could do, Hook thought as they started talking about how to get to the castle and freeing both Emma and the citizen of the Enchanted Forest.

* * *

The gates were huge and made of a dark, rich wood. Cora stood there for a second, only watching them with a face that made it clear she was trying to open them with her mind, but they acted just like everything else here; they didn't move, they were as frozen as ever. Emma stood behind Cora, watching her. She wasn't sure what to do, but her head was trying to find a solution to this puzzle. She was pretty sure Cora was aware of her every move so she just stood still, sure that if Cora knew she was trying something, Emma would be stuck in her magic and that would really turn her chances of escaping to zero.

Cora turned around again, trying to hide her annoyance but Emma noticed a small change in the way she held her eyebrows. Then she looked like she got an idea and she started smiling again.

"Of course, the saviour needs to do this," she said and waved Emma towards her, making the magic push Emma forward.

It was so strange, being pushed by magic and Emma hated the feeling of being so vulnerable and helpless.

Cora made Emma touch the gates, push them and she even made Emma say weird words at them but nothing worked. Emma felt a bit content at this fact, she knew she wasn't this saviour. But, a part of her wished she could be it, not only because it was probably the only way she'd may have a way out of this, but also that  _if_  she was the saviour, that meant that she had parents. The thought of parents made her fingers twitch and a strange sensation of hope swirl around in her head.

But, the gates didn't move.

* * *

"Are we there soon?"

Neal looked over his shoulder once again, now giving Hook a really annoying look.

"Look, Killian, I know you want to get there, but asking every five minutes won't make the time pass faster."

It was such a strange feeling, Ba... Neal treating him as a kid, but Hook didn't really care. He really wanted them to move faster, he couldn't really think. His lips were still aching after the kiss and he didn't want to know what Cora was doing to Emma.

* * *

After Cora just staring into the air for nearly two minutes she suddenly jumped.

"Of course, dear god, I'm stupid." A purple smoke of magic later, Cora was gone. Emma looked around swiftly before tensely starting the search for something that could act as a weapon. She wondered where Neal and Hook where, maybe they were making their way here? She hoped so.

Ten seconds after Cora had strangely disappeared Emma found what she was looking for. A big branch, heavy at one side, was thrown at the side. Emma picked it up and felt the short branch's weight in her hand before Cora showed up again. She was carrying something but let go of it when Emma started rush towards her with the branch in her hands. The adrenaline came shooting through her body as soon as she started to move, but fighting against a witch who had worked with magic nearly her whole life wasn't easy and Cora simply moved her hand.

Emma was stuck in a thick cloud of magic again, Cora didn't let her move. The only thing Emma could do was to stay still, hell, she couldn't move if she wanted to. All her plans of knocking Cora out had turned to dust when Cora just lightly had made a small move with her hand capturing Emma in the thick cloud. The branch now laid on the ground, Emma unable to reach for it.

Cora had moved out of Emma's sight a moment ago and now she returned, carrying that thing again. When Cora came closer Emma could se that what Cora was carrying was a big, goldish- looking... crown. With a content smile Cora strode towards Emma and placed it upon Emma's head.

First, nothing happened other than Emma just really wanted to kick the heavy crown off her head but just two seconds after the crown being placed upon her head the gates started to squeak and slowly they began to move, revealing a big street with lots of small houses all made of a grey, beautiful stone.

A sudden wind started to play in Emma's hair when Cora started to move through the city, full of people whom all had started to move.

It all looked so natural and as if no time had passed at all even if Emma was pretty sure it had been 28 years.

Cora turned towards Emma, smiled dangerously and moved her hand again.

"No more need of you, princess."

Emma felt the magic loosening its grip of her and she fell to the ground, causing the heavy crown to fall off. The second it hit the ground the people stopped again and the small, playful wind stopped playing with Emma's hair.

But this time, not only did the people stopped, but also Cora. She stood there and started angrily at Emma.

Surprised at this new information Emma tried touching the crown but nothing happened. She had no idea what to do now. It all had happened so fast and she hadn't had any time to think everything through and actually understanding that she was the saviour. And if she was the saviour, that meant that her parents where here, frozen in time. Emma jumped to her feat with the crown stuffed under her arm. She ran past Cora and into the city.

The thought felt very strange in her head, but she had to save her... family.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oncers! Only one more chapter to go after this one! Enjoy all the feels.

_I took the road and I fucked it all away_

_Now in this twilight how dare you speak of grace_

* * *

_"I won't do it his way. I won't fight his wars this way, not like a coward. If we shall win, we shall do it true- hearted. Whoever isn't with me, feel free to walk the bloody plank."_

_The rage was tearing him apart, bit by bit. He was sure as hell not going to do this anymore. He wasn't who everyone thought he was. He could never be a lieutenant, not with his childhood and this bloody coward for a king._

_He thought that he'd been able to do it, start over and do it right, at least with the help of Liam everything had seemed to be possible but now, without his brother, everything seemed to be hopeless._

_He wasn't going to do this the way everyone thought he was supposed to do it, to hell with everything else that wasn't his own will._

_When he saw the fists of the crew being lifted into the air and the screams of approval reached his ears he felt a new kind of energy flowing through his body._

_Lieutenant Killian Jones was no more, he'd been killed along with his brother._

* * *

It had come so sudden, the sensation of freezing and not being able to move. He was pretty sure it was real because he could still think, obviously. But this wasn't very convenient, not at all. He figured so much as Emma had done something and he wasn't very sure if it was positive or not, she had been with Cora after all. But Hook tried to keep as much faith in her as possible even if he had a strange feeling in his gut.

In front of him stood Ba... Neal, also completely still. It was pretty annoying not being able to move his sight and only the thought of being stuck like this for 28 years made him feel very uneasy.

* * *

Emma hurried along the roads filled with people, their faces containing surprised faces and some of them frozen in screams, probably of joy since they had been awoken from the curse, at least for a short period of time.

Emma felt the need to tell them she was horribly sorry for them but she figured that the only way she could make it right was to... actually break the curse. She wondered if the pirate too had froze like these people.

The city was big but it wasn't very hard to figure out where the royals would be; in what seemed to be the middle of the big city there was a big, castle- looking building and a small tingle started to make itself noticed in Emma's stomach.

It was hard to walk through the crowds of people. She was a bit scared to touch any of them, afraid of how their skin would feel. Would it be like touching a statue or an actual person? Emma wasn't sure and didn't really want to know. The thought of pushing someone over also made her feel a bit sick, would they break like a statue in the fall?

Walking past the biggest crowd in the centre in front of the castle, Emma stopped a short second to admire the big creation but also to swallow hard and to tell her nerves to not jump around. Usually she was very calm and it took a lot to get her nerves this messy but this was a very... special occasion.

Hurrying up the stairs at the front of the castle, taking two steps at the time, Emma made her way up to the gate which, to her surprise, was open. The cold steel of the door handle sent a shiver down Emma's spine and what met her, she wasn't ready for. It was all so very... big. There were stairs everywhere in the way-too-huge room with marble floor and heavy stone walls. She had no idea where the queen and king were supposed to be, but she saw a trail of dusty footsteps that seemed a bit off so Emma decided that they were her best leads, so she followed them up the long stairs, again, taking two steps at the time.

She felt the adrenaline pump through her body as she reached a long corridor with an open door at the end of it. She held the heavy crown tight as she entered the room thinking about how she didn't have anything to keep her protected.

The room was big and light. Two black knights laid on the floor and seemed to be knocked out. In front of them stood a tall man with soft, light brown hair and a white shirt stained with blood. He looked desperate, but also determined and his eyes was filled with love. When Emma realised that he must be the king it felt like something was taking her heart and squeezing it slowly. Was this.. her father? Could he really be?

There was some small resemblances between them but soon Emma couldn't really see, her eyes was flooded with tears.

She bent down and grabbed one of the swords from the black knights. Then she stood up tall and walked past the two knights. She took a deep breath as she took the crown and let it linger a bit over her head before she pushed it down on her head.

* * *

The sudden release of his body made Hook stumble a bit but soon he was on his feet again.

He looked over at Neal and they locked eyes, both realising that what just happened only had to do with one person; Emma.

They started to run, as if they ran for their lives, towards the castle that they'd been so close to when the curse had struck them. Now they had a new kind of energy, hope and fear for what had happened to Emma in a weird mixture also combined with the wish for safety for the people they cared for. It hadn't taken that very much time for Hook to realise that he actually cared a great lot for Emma and it didn't really scare him that much anymore. What scared him now was what she would think of him, he certainly wasn't one of the "good" guys, that much he was sure of. But, all that could wait because now the only thing that occupied his mind was that he  _needed_  to get to Emma and that fast because she wasn't aware of just how far Cora could go to get her will into reality. After all, the witch did lack a heart.

* * *

A weird energy ran through Emma and suddenly she heard a loud sound of metal meeting stone. She realised she'd closed her eyes and slowly, afraid of what she would se when she would open them, she opened them to se that the king had dropped his sword to the floor and now he stared right at her. Emma felt a bit soggy and small when she saw the love flash in his eyes before she felt two strong arms around her body. One hand rested in her hair and she heard him breath in her scent, but one thought continued to bother her, what if this wasn't her father after all? He seemed to be the same age as her and he was a royal which Emma clearly wasn't.

_"Emma."_

The sound of name made her shiver and she breathed out, realising she'd held her breath and now she felt a strange calm and warm feeling coming over, leaning into the man.

Around her she heard people screaming of joy and names being called. She also heard fast steps in the hallway and just when she was released from the big hug she turned to the door and saw a woman, with black hair and a white dress. Her head had a fine layer of sweat and the loving and unbelieving eyes met Emma's, searching for something in her face. The woman shot a look at the man and Emma could se how he only gave a small nod with a big grin on his face and then Emma was in another hug, black hair everywhere and a warm body against her own.

* * *

Neal led them to the city and then he turned around.

"Go get Emma, I'm heading towards my father. If you so much as try to get near him, I'll cut your head off myself and if I die in the process, so be it." Hook nodded seriously, he sure did understand Neal. A sour, joking reply rested on his tongue, eager to get out but he swallowed it and hurried to continued to run again, now towards the big castle in the middle of the city. He hadn't seen Cora anywhere and this made him feel a bit uneasy. But, there were people everywhere, happy people hugging and crying so he may had missed her. Some were still looking for their loved ones and calling out names, there was something truly beautiful in their eyes, a combination of love and desperation, looking for their loved ones they've been thinking about for 28 years. The same second this thought reached his mind he knew that he was like these people, he could se the resemblance but the only difference was that he was pretty sure he'd be rejected from the person he was looking for. He tried to push this thought to the side, right now finding her, finding Emma, was the most important thing on his mind.

He could be selfish later.

It wasn't very hard to make out what way Emma had taken and he rushed after her steps, nearly feeling her in the warm summer air.

The voices of the people had become a weird blur in the edge of his mind, only thinking of Emma, Emma and Emma.

The stairs was soon behind him and soon he also left the corridor behind him as he suddenly stood in a big, light room. It was a light room with big windows but the light Hook saw didn't come from the windows, no, it came from the woman that lifted her gaze to meet his.

It came from the woman with the blonde hair whom, when she saw him, let go of the two people hugging her which Hook nearly had missed when arriving.

The light came from her, it came from her who took three fast steps, closing the screaming, big gap between them.

It came from the woman who looked into his eyes before she closed them and let their lips meet.

The light came from her, it came all from Emma.

_Emma._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Romantic enough for you? One more chapter is coming so everyone know!


	10. Our choices seal our fate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the end... my only friend.  
> Feels pretty weird to be finished with this fic. It doesn't feel like the story I started with, tho. It has changed a great lot during the time.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favourited and followed this story, it makes me so happy and I appreciate it a great lot!  
> (Sorry if there are any terrible misspellings and such, I've had a terrible school week and my brain is kind of tired.)

_But in this twilight our choices seal our fate_

* * *

_"Come to the docks early tomorrow morning, love. You'll see which ship is mine once you're there." The pirate said, throwing the words over his shoulder as he walked to the door._

_His cocky tone was annoying but Emma tried to ignore it, trying to be the sweet (and a little bit stupid) girl as the pirate seemed to think she was._

_"A name, pirate, you promised me a name. Who are you?"_

_As he stood in the door he turned his head to her one last time._

_"Killian Jones, but most people have taken to call me by my more colourful moniker…" the pirate made a dramatic pause as he held up this left arm, "Hook."_

* * *

No thoughts had been put into this she realised. She'd wanted to do it and she'd done it, simple enough. Though, it wasn't simple, it wasn't a prince she'd kissed, hell, she'd have been content if it was any normal guy, but no, of course she'd had to fall for the bloody pirate whom had wanted to use her first thing they met. Right, now she was even starting to think as him. Emma wasn't sure if she regretted it, but she wasn't sure if she was happy about it either.

She sighed and suddenly realised that she was still standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by the king and the queen, also known as her.. parents (sounded way too strange to actually say or think out loud) and, of course, Killian, or Hook, whatever. It was all so strange and this scenario was very new to her and because of that Emma couldn't help but let out a small laugh. Here she stood, surrounded by her parents and a guy she just kissed, already trying to bring back her teenage years it seemed like.

Her parents watched her strangely, then they looked over at Hook ( _Killian_   _felt too strange to refer to him as_ , Emma decided) and then back to her.

The whole scenario turned from strange to confusing to awkward within seconds.

Emma bit her lip and answered their confused looks by simply saying; "We'll talk later, right now we have to take care of Cora, sadly." (A little bit too fast, but it was good enough.) Emma looked over at Hook, whom shrugged with a big smirk on his face before he started talking.

* * *

"Cora have been after one thing for a while now; the forgiving of her daughter, Regina. That is about as much as I know about this, but I guess you two know better where to find her." He nodded towards Emma's parents and the king looked as if he thought for a while before he opened his mouth.

"I'd say I'm pretty sure where she is. Being frozen here for 28 years means pretty much going over every single detail in your head a thousand times and I feel like I'm pretty up to date with everything dealing this castle." The king had a deep and very calming voice and Hook did notice a tiny bit of Emma in it.

"That's right. I'm pretty sure Regina is in her castle, where she cast her spell. That is, if she froze like us, which maybe she did, something unexpected may have happened to the curse and she'd been hit as well, but I'm not very sure that's likely. Either way, she's probably there, or she's on her way here, now when you, Emma, broke the curse." This time it was the queen, Snow, who spoke. When she said Emma's name Hook could feel the love in the air. It was very strange, seeing these people with so much love for someone they barely knew but he guessed he could kind of understand the weird parental- love.

Emma bent down again to pick up the sword she'd let go to the ground before. She felt the weight in her hand for a short while before looking at the others.

"Shall we get going then?" Hook said after clearing his throat after the slightly awkward silence, but still watching Emma intensely.

The king nodded a bit too fast after Hook had asked his question, Hook guessed he'd also felt the weird silence but then the king stopped again, causing Hook to stop as well, seeing the king's weird look.

"I didn't catch your name?" he said, making it sound more as a question than a statement.

"That's because I didn't tell you." He smirked but after receiving a warning glance from Emma he continued.

"Captain Hook at your service. What about you, mate?"

"He goes under the name Charming." Snow said, smiling very widely at Hook whom nodded a bit. He had heard that name before, yes.

"Somebody said anything about going?" Emma said impatiently.

But they didn't get the time to even begin to move before a cloud of purple smoke appeared in the room.

* * *

"Hell," Emma cursed. Within seconds she got extremely angry at herself, why had she started to chitchat to her parents? Damn feelings.

Soon Cora stood there, of course.

"I believe we have some unfinished business, Saviour," she said darkly, sounding a tad overdramatic with all that smoke and her ridiculous dress.

When Cora reached for Emma's mother suddenly the world started going in slow motion. A thousands of thoughts started going through Emma's brain.

She'd just gotten her parents back after being an orphan for her whole life and she didn't for a second believed Cora had any other intentions than killing both her parents and then, probably, herself too. The anger, the fear and the strange and new love she felt all came rushing through her body. She could feel the energy tickle and scratching in her body, wanting to get out before something even stranger than the last event happened.

A huge ball of white energy was making its way towards Cora and dodged her try to get to Snow. Wow, this must be the party for strange events, because this sure as hell topped the lists.

If the world had been going in slow motion before it pretty much stopped now. Everyone stared at Emma, even Cora stared with new eyes on her for not as much as two seconds but still. Emma felt strange, very strange. She couldn't control the magic that she now felt flowing through her body and she understood that it pretty much had been a lucky strike that it'd been working. She guessed that Cora knew this as well because once again she reached out to get Snow, this time succeeding.

"So, the little saviour has some kind of magic too, doesn't she? Very cute, indeed." She laughed, at least Emma guessed it was a laugh, but it actually sounded more as a donkey choking on a bottle of wine than a laugh. Seeing Snow in Cora's arms made the anger, fear and all other emotions rush again but this time they were uncontrollable and Emma had no chance to even try to manage them.

Something caught her eyes though. A new puff of magic appeared and soon another woman who looked very much like Cora stood behind the villain.

"Mother, stop. This won't bring any good."

Emma understood that this must be the infamous Evil Queen Regina, seeing as she called Cora her mother. But something didn't seemed right, Regina didn't look as evil as she'd been described to look and it wasn't like her to trying to protect her sworn enemy (yes, Emma wasn't stupid, she'd heard a lot about it, she'd been working in a pub, after all.)

Not only Emma seemed to be a bit confused, both of her parents had very strange looks upon their faces even if they still looked like they were expecting the worst out of the situation. Hook just stood in a corner, sporting a poker face.

Cora just looked like she'd been slapped across the face and finally Emma could se some emotion in that so very stone cold face of hers.

"Mother, I'm over it. Henry wouldn't approve and I've decided that I can't do this revenge thing anymore." It took some time for Cora to slap on the cold stone face again, but the last they could se of her was that cold face before she disappeared in yet another puff of magic. They all stood quiet for a while after Cora had dissapeared, before Snow suddenly stepped forward to Regina, holding out a hand. Regina looked at it for a while before taking it, shaking it slowly.

By then, Hook was at Emma's side and Emma took his hand fastly, she just needed something to hold onto.

* * *

**_Six months later_ **

Killian had never seen anything more beautiful than this, he thought as he walked up the tower of the castle, seeing both Emma and Henry sitting in the sunlight. Emma had that wide, happy grin on her face which he loved very deeply. She looked so proud when she laughed with Henry, one hand carefully placed on his shoulder.

It had taken some time before they'd actually started to become calm around each other, Emma and Henry, but once Regina had agreed that it infact probably would be good for Henry to know his birthmother (she'd said it reluctantly, but after actually starting to let people in it had been getting a lot smoother between them), they'd both opened up to each other.

Killian's heart grew bigger and warmer when Emma turned her head towards him and smiled lovingly.

"Killian, come and join us!"

"Of course, love." He smiled and sat down at Henry's other side, taking Emma's hand beside the kid's back.

He smiled at Henry first before he turned his gaze to meet Emma's eyes.

He could feel the love that poured out from them. He felt a bit strange every time he thought about when he'd wished to hurt her, wished to betray her only to get to Rumplestiltskin. It was pretty tense when seeing him, Killian still whished he could just walk up to that imp and just shop his head off his shoulders, but they'd actually talked once, but only shortly. Neal had been there to watch over them, like an eagle. He was one of the things that kept them off each other's throats, him and of course Emma and Belle. Of course Killian still remembered everything The Dark One had done towards him but he also remembered what he'd done towards Rumplestiltskin. But now, Milah was history and Killian had actually found himself going whole weeks without thinking about her.

Right now, this was were he belonged. Not that he'd given up sailing, he'd never do that, but this was his home now. The kingdom had bloomed when Regina and Snow had made up and decided to run the kingdom together. It was still a bit strange to look at this different Regina but Snow didn't seem to find it strange, she just looked at Regina as if she'd always known that this would happen, always with a big smile, just ignoring Regina's sometimes sharp replies (even if everyone knew she actually didn't really mean them - she just probably didn't want to seem too soft).

"Killian, my mother said that tomorrow there would be a big party in the city to celebrate the six month anniversary for the new life of the kingdom. You will be there, right?" Killian smiled at the brown haired boy.

Killian looked up to meet Emma's eyes but she shock her head, she hadn't said this to Henry. The other mother it must be then, Killian guessed.

"Of course I'll be there, lad. Can't miss the six month anniversary," he winked at Emma. She winked back before leaning in towards him to let their mouths meet because it wasn't just the kingdom's anniversary, it was theirs too, kind of.

"Eww, stop kissing!" Henry yelled out but soon laughing when his mom and Killian parted and started to tickle him.

**THE END**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Too cheesy of an end? I know, but I know you love it (or not, I don't know).


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